The Collaborative International Dictionary
Sphinx \Sphinx\, n. [L., from Gr. sfi`gx, usually derived from sfi`ggein to bind tight or together, as if the Throttler.]
-
In Egyptian art, an image of granite or porphyry, having a human head, or the head of a ram or of a hawk, upon the wingless body of a lion.
The awful ruins of the days of old . . . Or jasper tomb, or mutilated sphinx.
--Shelley. -
On Greek art and mythology, a she-monster, usually represented as having the winged body of a lion, and the face and breast of a young woman.
Note: The most famous Grecian sphinx, that of Thebes in B[oe]otia, is said to have proposed a riddle to the Thebans, and killed those who were unable to guess it. The enigma was solved by [OE]dipus, whereupon the sphinx slew herself. ``Subtle as sphinx.''
--Shak.
-
Hence: A person of enigmatical character and purposes, especially in politics and diplomacy.
-
(Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of large moths of the family Sphingid[ae]; -- called also hawk moth. See also tomato worm.
Note: The larva is a stout naked caterpillar which, when at rest, often assumes a position suggesting the Egyptian sphinx, whence the name.
-
(Zo["o]l.) The Guinea, or sphinx, baboon ( Cynocephalus sphinx).
Sphinx baboon (Zo["o]l.), a large West African baboon ( Cynocephalus sphinx), often kept in menageries.
Sphinx moth. (Zo["o]l.) Same as Sphinx, 3.
Wiktionary
alt. Any moth of the family Sphingidae. n. Any moth of the family Sphingidae.
WordNet
n. any of various moths with long narrow forewings capable of powerful flight and hovering over flowers to feed [syn: hawkmoth, sphingid, sphinx moth, hummingbird moth]
Usage examples of "hawk moth".
The first night at anchor, the sound of music, of drunken laughter and the shrill cries of women at play and at work carried across the still waters to the nine Hottentot musketeers in their corner of the forecastle, and the lights of the bordels and bars along the waterfront were as irresistible to the nine as a candle to a hawk moth.
She wore an insect perfume, the crushed wings of the desert hawk moth prepared in the hills beyond Wisdom.
I was reborn as a hawk moth, a cockroach, a cow, and a tortoiseshell cat.
I stared intently and suspiciously at a small shape flying near these, thinking about bats, until Dracula assured me it was only a night-feeding hawk moth, by which these flowers were mostly pollinated.